In many ways, Warren Rychel has been the face of the Windsor Spitfires for more than a decade.

Players and coaches have come and gone since Rychel purchased the team with Bob Boughner and Peter Dobrich in 2006, but the former NHL tough guy was always front and centre as the club’s vice-president and general manager.

That is, until Thursday when the club announced the architect of the only three Memorial Cup championship teams in the franchise’s 43-year modern-era history was stepping away. Bill Bowler will assume the role of general manager and vice-president of hockey operations.

“Warren has left a major imprint on this club,” Spitfires president and co-owner John Savage said. “He’s left his mark on this club forever.”

The 52-year-old Rychel admitted Thursday that walking away from the club was no easy task.

“It’s really hard,” Rychel said. “It’s kind of sad. Right from the beginning for me, 13 years in my hometown with the team I grew up watching. Like, wow, that’s kind of a special thing.”

But even after the club’s historic 2017 Memorial Cup title, Rychel talked about hoping to get a chance to return to the NHL.

“I think I need a new challenge,” said Rychel, who had been in the same role with Windsor since 2006.

Walking away is hard to do. After 13 years at the helm and three Memorial Cups, Warren Rychel announced Thursday he’s stepping down as Windsor Spitfires vice-president and general manager.Dax Melmer /
Windsor Star

When the club’s proposed sale to Dr. Azim Parekh fell through in May, Rychel sold his nearly 20-per-cent stake in the club to the Cypher Systems Group of Savage, Brian Schwab and Stephen Savage, which bought a controlling interest, and he began planning an exit.

“Financially, it was a perfect time for me,” Rychel said of selling and moving on. “This was just something with this time in my life and my family that it’s a good time.”

I lived and died with the team and I’ve loved every kid that’s come through here

At the junior hockey level, there was nothing more for Rychel to accomplish. He took a team that won just 18 of 68 games his first season as GM in 2006-07 and turned it into a Memorial Cup champion just two years later.

“We sat down 13 years ago and wrote down things we wanted to do,” Rychel said. “People thought we had high expectations, but it’s unbelievable.”

The following season, he helped the Spitfires become just the eighth team in history to record back-to-back Memorial Cup titles.

Rychel was never afraid to make a bold trade to get the results, and his most amazing feat was in 2017. Windsor was knocked out in the first round of the playoffs, but it became the first team to regroup and win the title in a season where Rychel dealt 22 draft picks and three players to acquire seven veteran players.

“I lived every shift with these guys in the good times and the bad times,” said Rychel, who saw the Spitfires produce 32 NHL Draft picks, including 11 first-round picks, during his time.

“I lived and died with the team and I’ve loved every kid that’s come through here. I hope I’ve touched their life in one way or another. I’m proud not just of NHL players, but guys that went to school.”

Rychel spent parts of nine seasons in the NHL and won a Stanley Cup with Colorado in 1996. Before buying the Spitfires, he spent six yeas scouting at the NHL level.

“I want to get back in the best league in the world,” Rychel said of the NHL. “Hopefully, I’ll be working in the NHL. In the next couple weeks, I should know something. I’m excited to do that.

“I want to be involved in the team. I don’t want to go to a game, write a report and forget about it. I think my strength is team building, people skills with kids and developing them. That’s what I want to do.

But that didn’t make leaving the WFCU Centre on Thursday any easier. It’s a place where he saw his club win over 500 games during his tenure, where sons Kerby and Maddux wore the Windsor jersey in a building that had truly become a second home.

“I’ll miss driving to the rink every day,” said Rychel, who will remain a team advisor for the next few months. “It’s five miles from my house and I’ll miss coming to the rink in shorts, having a coffee and not worrying about anything and just getting in that room (his office).

“I’ll miss the camaraderie. Any ex-player will tell you the day-to-day camaraderie and the laughs is probably the best part.”

Rychel is confident the 44-year-old Bowler, who has spent the past two seasons working as the team’s vice-president of hockey and business operations, is ready for his new role.

“Billy’s ready for sure,” Rychel said. “I think it’s a great hire. We’ve been working close. He’s been in all the scouting meetings and the general managers’ meetings at the league level. We talk every day. He’s good and he’s been involved. He’s going to be fine.”

Bowler’s number hangs in the rafters at the WFCU. He is the club’s all-time leading scorer with 467 points over a four-year career from 1991-95 and still holds the OHL record for career assists with 318.

“You always think you’re ready, but the information that I’ve gotten in the last two years on the hockey and business side is invaluable,” said Bowler, who also served as coach for the club for two seasons from 2005-07.

“I’m extremely confident, but honoured and privileged to be given the duty to manage this hockey club.”